New collections available at the Butler Center

Have you been in to visit us lately? Why not come check out one of these new collections?

MSS.11.131 Edwin Porter Thompson Letter
Edwin Porter Thompson (Ed) was born in Metcalfe County, Kentucky, on May 5, 1834, to Lewis and Mary Thompson. Having lost his father at age 12, Ed became a teacher to support his family, and in 1858, he married Marcella Thompson. A Confederate living in a Union state, he served from October 1861 through May 1865, in the 6th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, part of the First Kentucky Brigade. Following the war, he wrote a well-known history of what came to be called the Orphan Brigade.

For the first years after the war, Thompson served as editor for newspapers in Kentucky and Arkansas. This letter was written while he was editor of the Weekly Advance in Bentonville, Arkansas. This newspaper was founded in 1873, by Robert S. Hynes and sold in 1877, to C. M. Robinson. Thompson worked for Robinson in the early 1880s. Following service as an historian, author, and leader in education in Kentucky, Thompson died in Frankfort, Kentucky, on March 4, 1903.

MSS.99.10 Max Malachowski Collection
Max Malachowski was born in Poland in 1874, and emigrated to the United States in 1892, settling in the Polish community at Marche, Arkansas. In 1896, he married Francis Lukasiewicz, who was born in Arkansas to Polish parents. In the same year Malachowski opened a dry goods store, which, along with the train depot, made up the actual town site of Marche. When the town was given a post office, he was named postmaster, a position he held until the post office closed in 1930. Max Malachowski died in 1955, and his wife died in 1975.


MSS.06.26 Roland "Rollie" Remmel Papers
Roland Rowe Remmel, born September 26, 1917, was the fifth of six children of Augustus C. Remmel and Nell Cates Remmel. His father died when Roland was only a year and a half old. After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1936, Roland (known as Rollie) attended college, first at Washington and Lee University, and then at Virginia Military Institute; he received a Bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1940.

Remmel served during World War II in the Army Air Corps, based in Trinidad. He returned to Little Rock after the war, and in 1948 he co-founded Southland Building Products. Also in 1948, he married Ruth Rebsamen, the daughter of Little Rock businessman Raymond Rebsamen. The couple had four children.

In addition to his position in the Little Rock business community, Remmel was active in community affairs. He was an avid hunter and member of Ducks Unlimited. Both he and Ruth were active in philanthropy and conservation issues. Rollie became well known for his Rollie sticks, which he donated to raise money for conservation efforts and gave to friends and prominent individuals. Remmel died on July 2, 2006.


MSS.11.109 John VanNest Civil War Letter
Joseph P. VanNest was born August 6, 1841, in Ashland, Ohio, to John and Sarah VanNest. Joseph worked with his father as a harness maker. He married Mary Gardner in October 1861, and their son John was born in April 1862. Coming from a family with strong Democratic political views, VanNest decided to enlist in the army in the summer of 1862, in spite of having a very young child. He served first in the 120th Ohio Infantry, and in November 1864, he transferred to the 114th Ohio Infantry. He wrote the letter in this collection to John when his son was two years old, while the 120th was on an expedition from Helena to the White River and St. Charles, Arkansas. Addressing John as though he were an adult, VanNest expresses his disillusionment with the political situation and with Lincoln. Following his discharge in June 1865, VanNest returned to work as a harness maker, and later became an insurance agent. He died in April 1905.


MSS.11.110 Major David Butler Letter
Shortly before this letter was written, General Zachary Taylor, who later became president, moved into Texas and established a presence at Corpus Christi to secure the newly annexed territory for the United States. Major David Butler, the author of the letter, was the military storekeeper at the Little Rock Arsenal from October 1, 1842, to October 25, 1849, leaving following a court martial for improper conduct. William Wynn, formerly of Virginia, owned a plantation on the Red River in Lafayette County, Arkansas. Moorhead Wright, a native of North Carolina, also had a plantation on the Red River. Each man owned approximately 100 slaves.